Wireless

Wireless connections

January A Bumper Month For Spam, Mobile Spam Increases
So, it’s Monday morning, you’ve sat down at your desk, powered up your PC and then slunk lower and lower in your chair as a fresh tide of spam rolls into your inbox.
And if you’re thinking that January was a pretty bad month for spam, you’d be right.
Commtouch’s virus and spam statistics for January 2006 show that the year started out with a bang, with four massive virus attacks unleashed during the month including an evil sounding “multi-wave attack of 7 variants.”
The company noted that the most aggressive attacks struck before the average anti-virus vendor could even release a signature
“The number of massive attacks grew in January,” points out Amir Lev, President and CTO. “In large part due to the speed of distribution, they succeeded in reaching many of their targets despite the presence of traditional anti-virus programs.”
Looking through the depressing stats for January reveals 19 new email-born significant virus attacks, of which eight (42%) were categorised as “low intensity”, seven (37%) “Medium Intensity” and four (21%) rated as massive attacks – a rare phenomenon for a single month.
The report also tracks the domains used by spammers, with hotmail.com leading the list with 4.7 million spams, followed by yahoo.com (4.2 million), msn.com (2.1 million), cisco.com (1.9 million) and gmail.com (1.5 million).
As usual, most of the spam revolved around dodgy pharmaceuticals (52%), gifts (14%), ‘enhancers and diets’ (13%), refinancing (7.5%), software (6%), porn and local dating (5%) and fraud (just under 1%).
If musing over updated spam graphs are your thing, check out the Commtouch stats page
SMS Onslaught in Korea
In Korea, unwanted text messages and spam phone calls have got so bad that the Korea Communication Commission (KCC) is to take the unusual step of punishing the country’s telecom companies, along with unlawful marketers.
“Up until now, we have checked just spam senders. But we are required to take punitive actions against fixed-line telecom entities, which are partially responsible,” commented KCC secretary general Kim In-soo.
Initially, mobile spam looked to be in decline after the introduction of an opt-in system in March, 2005 which prohibited marketers from placing promotional calls or sending advertising messages to handset users who hadn’t given explicit permission in advance.
Sneaky marketers tried to get around this with a clever bit of human engineering: they fired off hundreds of computer-generated calls to mobile phones that hung up after just one ring.
Any curious recipients calling back to find out whose call they missed found themselves connected to a porn hotline charged at premium rates. Ouch!
20 February, 2006
ShoZu Mobile Photo Application: Brief Update
We covered ShoZu winning an award to last weeks 3GSM. Sadly we’d hit problems trying to test it out, but here’s the update.
Thanks to the top brass at Shozu for getting in touch to remedy our installation hiccups. Before the contact, we’d loaded another browser (Firefox over Safari, which didn’t hang) and managed to get the WAP download link onto our trusty Sony k750i.
The next problem we hit was of our impatient making. When getting the downloaded app authorised to use the phones Internet connection and access out photo’s on-board, we didn’t read the message fully and only fixed the Internet problem – the message didn’t reflect this.
We’ve now got it working and have been playing with ShuZo.
The problems we hit getting/authorising the ShuZo app on a myriad of mobile phones will be found by many others, and as far as we can see, there’s no obvious way to tackle it without being very patient and holding the hand of the user.
Looks like a clear need for a standard for getting active mobile applications working across handsets.
ShoZu
20 February, 2006
What Software On Which PDAs? Survey
Handango has released their annual “Handango Yardstick”, a global snapshot of the state of the mobile content industry in 2005.
Containing specific reports for each of the five major mobile operating systems – BlackBerry, Palm OS, Symbian OS and Windows Mobile Pocket PC and Smartphone – the Yardstick offers stats on the top devices downloading software and digital content, best-selling applications and ringtones and software sales by category etc.
Their 2005 report reveals that multimedia was the hot new category for 2005 with fast-rising sales on all platforms.
Across the board, MP3 and music players; DVD/video converters and viewer and ringtone managers topped the best sellers list, with multimedia content ranking seventh in the top ten sales by categories
The big hitters included Ring Tone Megaplex for BlackBerry, Ringo Pro for Palm OS, Pocket-DVD Studio for Windows Mobile Pocket PC and SmartMovie for Symbian OS.
The Yardstick reported an overall increase in the average selling price (ASP) of mobile applications, surging upwards from $16.96 in 2004 to $20.03 in 2005.
The dynamic nature of the smartphone/PDA industry was reflected by the fact that only four of the top ten devices adding content in 2004 – the Palm Treo 600/650, O2 XDA, Sony Ericsson P900/P910 and Palm Tungsten T Series – stayed in the list.
New additions included the Motorola RAZR V3, the BlackBerry 7100 Series and the BlackBerry 7250/7290 (the first BlackBerry smartphone to ever make the top ten).
Palm
The Palm Treo 650 shunted the Treo 600 into second place as it grabbed the title of the number one device adding content, with the Palm Tungsten E, Palm Tungsten T3 and Palm Tungsten T5 trailing behind.
Although more than 2,125 new applications were created for the Palm OS in 2005, this represented a hefty 89 percent decrease from last year.
Here’s the top ten best-selling applications for Palm OS according to Handago:
- 1. Agendus Professional Edition
- 2. Treo Voice Dialing
- 3. AOL for Treo 650
- 4. Agendus Standard Edition
- 5. PocketMirror Standard Edition
- 6. Diet & Exercise Assistant
- 7. SplashID
- 8. KeySuite
- 9. SOLITAIRE PACK
- 10. Ringo Pro
Palm Yardstick [PDF]
Windows Mobile Pocket PC
A total of 3,024 new applications were launched on Windows Mobile Pocket PC platforms in 2005 – down on the previous year’s total by 17 percent.
The top ten Windows Mobile Pocket PC applications were:
- 1. Spb Pocket Plus
- 2. Battery Pack Pro
- 3. Agenda Fusion
- 4. Pocket-DVD Studio
- 5. SBSH PocketBreeze
- 6. Microsoft Voice Command – US Edition
- 7. Pocket Informant
- 8. eWallet
- 9. Pocket Controller-Professional
- 10. Spb Weather
Pocket PC Yardstick [PDF]
Smartphone Yardstick [PDF]
BlackBerry
The Handango Yardstick reported a busy year for BlackBerry with 462 new applications contributing to a 67 percent increase over last year.
The top three BlackBerry devices adding content in 2005 — the BlackBerry 7250, BlackBerry 7290 and BlackBerry 7100t — were also three of the top smartphones adding content across all platforms.
The top ten best-selling applications for BlackBerry were:
- 1. Ring Tone Megaplex
- 2. WebViewer
- 3. Aces Texas Hold’em – No Limit
- 4. IM+
- 5. Acrobat PDF Graphical Attachment Booster
- 6. CryptMagic + PC Desktop
- 7. Sol Mania
- 8. Ascendo Photos
- 9. Requwireless Value Bundle
- 10. PocketDay Professional Edition
Blackberry Yardstick [PDF]
Symbian Yardstick
Handago
20 February, 2006
W220 RAZR-lite From Motorola For The Masses: 3GSM
Motorola has unveiled their new, mass-market Motorola W220 phone at the 3GSM conference in Barcelona, Spain.
Using the hugely popular – and expensive – RAZR clamshell phone as inspiration, the handset offers the same super-slim factor form but with a lot of the goodies taken out.
Designed with the goal of “connecting the next billion” handset users, the highly affordable W220 comes with a basic feature set including an FM radio (but no MP3 capability we could find), a 600-entry phonebook and a 128×128 pixel colour screen.
There’s no external display for caller ID purposes, with Motorola instead offering a simple set of three icons on the outer fascia displaying call status, message status, and battery remaining.
Targeted at emerging markets, the phone is a pretty lightweight affair – just 93 grams – with Motorola claiming a hugely impressive 497 minutes of talk and 293 hours of standby.
Other features on the Motorola W220 include a WAP 2.0 compliant browser, alarm clock, MMS, SMS and NSM messaging services and the ability to download the all-important wallpapers, ringtones and games.
With such a slender feature set, we expect the W220 to be offered for next to nowt for contract deals sometime in Q3 2006.
Things have been somewhat quiet for Motorola at the 3GSM conference so far, leading pundits to anticipate big things at CTIA cell phone trade show in Las Vegas, from April 5-7 in Las Vegas. As ever, we’ll keep you posted.
Motorola
16 February, 2006
i320 Smartphone From Samsung – More Details
Samsung have released a few more details about their new i320 Smartphone, which was unveiled at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona.
The mean’n’lean, wafer thin, none-more-black smartphone weighs in at a sprightly 95g, with a 2.2″ 262K colour TFT screen offering QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) resolution – a healthy improvement on the Treo 700w’s paltry 240×240 screen.
The pocket-friendly i320 runs on Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0, and offers the new Direct Push Email functionality via the Messaging & Security Feature Pack when used with Microsoft Exchange Server SP2.
For a fully featured smartphone, the dimensions aren’t too bulky- 111mm x 59mm x 11.5mm only – so you won’t feel too much of a berk walking around with it stuck to your ear.
Impressively, there’s a thumping great 120MB of onboard memory with a microSD slot for expansion and a QWERTY keyboard for bashing out short messages.
When it comes to multimedia, the Samsung sports a 1.3 megapixel camera and supports MPEG4 / H.263 / H.264 / WMV video formats and MP3 / AAC / AAC+ / WMA / WAV / OGG audio formats, with dual stereo speakers onboard.
Connectivity comes in the shape of Bluetooth with the tri-band (900/1800/1900) GSM phone capable of GPRS/EDGE but no Wi-Fi as far as we can see – a major omission in our book. Bad Samsung.
Samsung i320 is scheduled to arrive in your greasy palms sometime during Q2 of 2006.
Samsung i320 specifications:
Band : GSM 900/1800/1900MHz
Data : EDGE/GPRS
Size : 111mm x 59mm x 11.5mm
Weight : 95g (3.35oz)
Display : 2.2″ 320 x 240 262K Color TFT
OS : Windows Mobile 5 for Smartphone
Camera : 1.3 Megapixel Camera
Video : Video capture/playback
Messaging : SMS/MMS
Email : Yes (POP/IMAP/SMTP)
Bluetooth : Yes
Infrared : No
Java : Yes
Polyphonics : Yes
Memory : 120MB User Memory, External Memory (microSD)
Features : QWERTY Keyboard, Video Recording & Messaging (MPEG4/H.263), Video Playing (MPEG4/H.263/H.264/WMV), MP3 / AAC / AAC+ / WMA / WAV / OGG, Dual Speaker / Speakerphone, Bluetooth Technology / USB / Voice Recognition, Document Viewer
Samsung
16 February, 2006
K610i 3G Phone Announced By Sony Ericsson: 3GSM
Sony Ericsson has slipped out is slimmest-ever 3G handset at the 3GSM conference in Barcelona, Spain.
The Sony Ericsson K610i is a lightweight and affordable 3G phone measuring a pocket-unruffling 102 x 45.2 x 16.9mm – roughly the size and weight of a typical 2G stick phone.
The lightweight handset (92g) sports a built in 2 Megapixel camera which should be good enough to produce reasonable quality 5″ x 7″ prints (and even the odd 10″ x 8″ print at a squeeze).
Reminiscent of the hugely popular T610 phone, the front of the phone is dominated by a 1.9 inch, 262K (176 x 220 pixels) colour display and a large keypad, with a tiny camera, midget-sized mirror and speaker on the rear.
Naturally, there’s an integrated music player lurking inside the rounded lines of the K610, with supported formats including MP3, AAC and e-AAC+.
Connectivity comes in the shape of Bluetooth, Infrared and USB 2.0 with external storage comes in the shape of Sony’s new Memory Stick Micro M2, which can be expanded to 1GB.
The excellent NetFront Web browser comes pre-installed on the phone, and there’s also an RSS reader integrated into its messaging section.
Sony Ericsson are promising an impressive battery life: 7 hours GSM, up to 2.5 hours WCDMA and up to 400 hours GSM and up to 350 hours WCDMA in standby mode.
The Dual Mode UMTS handset will be available in ‘Evening Red’ and ‘Urban Silver’ colours, and should start shipping during Q2 2006.
Sony Ericsson also announced a new, entry level handset at the show, the J100. This dual band handset offers a 65K colour screen, polyphonic ringtones and 8 hour talk time.
Sony Ericsson K610i Specs:
Imaging & Messaging:
2.0 Megapixel camera
2 x digital zoom
Horizontal camera user interface
Video call (integrated VGA camera)
Video record and play
Video streaming
PictureDJ
SMS and MMS (Multimedia Messaging)
262,144 color 1.9″>176 x 220 pixels
Entertainment:
Disc2Phone ripping software
WAP 2.0 XHTML/HTML
Java MIDP 2.0
Media player (supports MP3, AAC and E-AAC+)
Music download
Polyphonic ringtones, 72 voices
MusicDJ
2D and 3D gaming
Connectivity:
USB cable
USB 2.0 mass storage, full speed
Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™)support (up to 1 GB ) Bluetooth
Dual mode UMTS and GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900
Business:
Standard Push e-mail (M-IMAP)
Sony K610 has Speakerphone
Modem
PC synchronization
File manager
Talk time:
Up to 7 hours GSM, up to 2.5 hours WCDMA
Standby time: Up to 400 hours GSM and up to 350 hours WCDMA
Size:
102 x 45.2 x 16.9mm
Weight: 92 grams
15 February, 2006
ShoZu, Mobile Photo Sharing App Wins Award: 3GSM
We’ve found it amazing that no application has come along and claimed theposition as the de-facto mobile phone photo-handling application. Perhapsbecause it’s such a mouthful.
Mobile phones with cameras are, after all, one of the main devices that areused by the wo/man in the street to capture most of their photos.
One of the applications that fits into said category is ShoZu, and weimagine that they are feeling rather pleased with themselves today afterwinning an award at 3GSM.
Prompted by the enthusiastic press release (below), we thought it was abouttime we tried it out – after all, we’d been seeing their name on Flickr forages, so it only seemed right.
We hope our experience is unique otherwise there’ll be a lot of peopleusing other services that _aren’t_ ShuZo.
The first few sign up screens were OK, until we were asked for our mobilephone number, so we could be mailed the app. Clicking the button to receivethis has, for the last half hour, just left us hanging.
Initial impressions – not good, but we’re hoping it’s going to get better.
We assume the 3GSM judges got over this.
Cognima collects top award at 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona for its ShoZu mobile media application
Wednesday 15 February 2006: Cognima, the company behind ShoZu, the free-to-download mobile phone application which allows users to share full quality images and video content with their chosen online community, was officially named as a world leader within the global mobile application market by the 3GSM Association at last night’s worldwide award ceremony in Barcelona. The ShoZu content sharing service, which was only recently launched at the end of last year, offers users the smartest and most affordable way to share rich media content using mobile cameraphones.
Accepting the award on behalf of Cognima, Mark Bole CEO said, “We have been delighted with the genuine support we have been getting from our customers, web partners and handset manufacturers in mobilizing a thriving and workable rich media content ecosystem.”
ShoZu’s ongoing commitment to fueling the mobile value chain by offering innovative and simple high quality media content services has captured the mood of the industry as it heads into the realm of consumer focused rich media content sharing. The fundamental concept behind ShoZu’s rapid growth in market visibility revolves around making the user-experience as enjoyable and simple as possible and in doing so makes mobile image sharing both straight forward and immediate.
ShoZu has been one of the defining presences at this year’s international congress, highlighting the sustainable growth within the maturing international mobile content sharing industry.
Bole added: “It is exciting that ShoZu has managed to capture the attention of the global community who are looking to work within this space. We are fully committed to finding new ways of allowing our growing user base to interact and participate with their online communities.”
Earlier on in the day, Mark Bole received a personal visit from HRH Prince Andrew who was keen to hear about ShoZu’s work in the area of delivering and offering application solutions to a wider mass user market.
Over the coming weeks, ShoZu will be announcing major enhancements to the service, including the development of rich media content from the web to mobile devices. These will include videocasting, podcasting, music and other third party media formats.
15 February, 2006
Opera Web Browser Now On Nintnedo DS
Opera, Opera, everywhere
Opera have had a concerted effort to place their Web browser on _everything_, most recently, with AJAX support on digitalTV.
Nintendo have made an interesting move here. The DS has always been focused on providing gaming, so to take the jump to making it a Web-access device is significant.
Those interested in running it will need to buy a Opera on a DS card and they’ll be away – browsing over Wifi on the dual screens.
GIVING GAMERS TWO WINDOWS TO THE WEB: THE OPERA BROWSER FOR NINTENDO DS
February 15, 2006: Opera Software today announced that it will deliver the World Wide Web to Nintendo DS users in Japan. In Opera’s agreement with Nintendo, Nintendo DS users will now be able to surf the full Internet from their systems using the Opera browser. The Opera browser for Nintendo DS will be sold as a DS card. Users simply insert the card into the Wi-Fi enabled Nintendo DS, connect to a network, and begin browsing on two screens.
Earlier this year, Nintendo reported that 13 million Nintendo DS systems were sold to consumers around the world within just 13 months of its debut in November 2004. Nintendo DS combines unique dual screens, touch screen, voice recognition and wireless and Wi-Fi communications capabilities. According to an independent market research company in Japan, Nintendo DS has become the fastest selling video games machine to top the 6 million sales mark in Japan in just over 14 months since its Japanese debut, breaking the old record held by Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance.
“The incredibly popular Nintendo DS is already Wi-Fi enabled to support real?time gaming, so adding Web browsing capabilities was a natural evolution for this device,” says Scott Hedrick, Executive Vice President, Opera Software. “Gaming devices are growing more advanced and a great Web experience is becoming a product differentiator for gaming manufacturers. Opera is excited to work with Nintendo to deliver a unique dual screen, full Internet experience on Nintendo DS.”
With an on?screen keypad and stylus, users can easily navigate the Web from their Nintendo DS with PDA?like functionality. Based on the same core as the Opera desktop browser, Opera delivers superior speed and rendering of Web pages on the Nintendo DS.
“Within just five seconds of turning on the system, the Nintendo DS is already fully operational. This makes it the ideal device to enable people to swiftly obtain the latest information from the internet, wherever they are,” says Masaru Shimomura, Deputy General Manager of Nintendo’s R & D Department. “Opera exceeded our expectations with its user friendly interface, quick access to all your favorite sites, ease of use and, most importantly, in making the best use of the Nintendo DS system’s unique double screens and touch screen features. Opera is an important partner for Nintendo in our efforts to further expand the users of the Nintendo DS.”>Nintendo Co., Ltd. held a presentation today in Tokyo, Japan, to announce updates for the Nintendo DS. Information on the availability of the Opera browser DS card has not yet been announced.
15 February, 2006
Google To Power Vodafone Mobile Search – Imagination Lacking: 3GSM
The news is coming out of 3GSM thick and fast, so we’re going to be reporting in a slightly different way. When we see a press release that we think it’s of interest to you, Dear Reader, we’ll put it up in full, with a brief comment at the top. Normal service will be resumed post 3GSM – unless you tell us you like this format.
We’re increasingly disappointed about the view of a couple of technologies by the wider market. The primary recipients of over-glowing acceptance in our view are Apple with their iPod and Google with search. OK, they’re good products, but really …. have some imagination. There are other products/services around that are equally good, and we’re sure that it’s only a matter of time before the alternatives exceed what is currently seen as the benchmark.
To fit in with this trend, Vodafone (who for goodness sake should have more confidence and technical expertise) have signed with Google, to have them power search on the Vodafone network.
Vodafone and Google team to create innovative mobile search experience for mobile phone users
Vodafone today announced that it is collaborating with Google todevelop innovative mobile search services for its customers.
Vodafone will integrate Google’s search capability into its consumerservice, Vodafone live!, providing customers with the most relevantinformation, wherever they are and whatever time of day it is.
Google’s search results will be delivered through Vodafone’s high speeddata networks. Combining Vodafone’s mobile expertise with Google’ssearch capability will ensure that customers can quickly and easilyfind what’s relevant to them. The new service will offer simultaneoussearch both on Vodafone live! and the wider Web.
Vodafone’s integration of Google search will take the mobile internetto a new level. Vodafone live! was the first mobile service to makedata services easily accessible to mobile customers. Whether checkingthe weather, looking for a restaurant or getting the most up-to-datenews, consumers want search services that meet their everyday needs.
Alan Harper, Group Strategy Director, Vodafone, said: “Innovative mobile search will become increasingly important as fastand easy access to information and services are increasingly demandedby customers on the move. Together, Vodafone and Google will focus oncreating the best mobile search service in the market, helping to bringthe mobile internet to life. Our customers will be able to findrelevant information and services faster, making the Vodafone live!customer experience even better. Our intention is to develop ourrelationship with Google to ensure Vodafone customers continue to havethe very best in mobile services.”
Nikesh Arora, Vice President, European Operations, Google Inc., said: “As people become more mobile, it’s increasingly important that we canprovide them with access to information when on-the-go. Googleunderstands that mobile phone users are looking for more than a desktopreplacement – they want directly relevant content, quickly. Vodafonehas long been a pioneer in providing mobile data services to itscustomers and we believe that by working together we will ensure a userfriendly experience for mobile users.”
14 February, 2006
Vodafone Embrace SIP Internally. Nokia To Supply: 3GSM
The news is coming out of 3GSM thick and fast, so we’re going to be reporting in a slightly different way. When we see a press release that we thinks of interest to you, Dear Reader, we’ll put it up in full, with a brief comment at the top. Normal service will be resumed post 3GSM.
This _is_ an interesting one. Nokia and Vodafone have knocked heads a few times about Nokia and their domination of the handsets market – and Vodafone’s keenness for their relationship with the subscriber not to be lost.
Here Nokia IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) will go Worldwide for Vodafone. The real buzz is that Vodafone will be SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) enabling their core network.
This is the switch to IP for Vodafone and, we judge, an acceptance that they need to fit in to the significantly cheaper IP world, rather than just sticking to their expensive, proprietary cellular networks.
Vodafone awards global contract to Nokia for IMS
Espoo, Finland – Nokia has been selected by Vodafone Group as a preferred supplier, with a contract to begin deploying the Nokia IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) solution to Vodafone affiliates worldwide. The first deployments are expected during 2006.
Under the agreement, Nokia becomes a preferred supplier of Vodafone’s IMS network architecture and the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) technology that will enable Vodafone to pilot next generation services and start interoperability testing. Nokia is also deploying its OMA-compliant Presence and List Management solutions. IMS is an essential element of the Nokia Unified Core Network solution and a key enabler of multi-access methods.
“Vodafone is excited by the enormous possibilities that are emerging with IP Multimedia,” says Detlef Schultz, Head of Global Supply Chain Management at Vodafone. “IMS is going to play a strategic role in our future service delivery. We intend to pilot the next generation of services using this technology and will start interoperability testing with other operators as soon as possible. We have the utmost confidence in Nokia’s ability to deploy IMS on a world-wide scale.”
“We are extremely pleased to be cooperating with Vodafone in pioneering the benefits of IMS for consumers,” said Giuseppe Donagemma, Vice President, Networks, Nokia. “Vodafone clearly recognizes how important IMS is in providing next generation multimedia services that are rich in possibilities and independent of access.”
Nokia provides to the telecommunications market a complete, end-to-end solution for IMS-based multimedia, including the Nokia IP Multimedia Subsystem solution and application servers for services such as Presence, which are connected to the IMS via the open IMS Service Control (ISC) interface. Nokia is the leading vendor of IMS/SIP enabled terminals, with several models of video sharing and SIP enabled terminals already on the market.
With its IMS solution and wide range of IP multimedia capable devices, Nokia has taken the lead in making IP Multimedia commercial. Nokia has over 70 IMS references, including 48 commercial references for the fully IMS compatible Push to talk over Cellular (PoC) solution and 14 references for IMS Core with mobile and fixed operators globally. Commercial launches include over 20 PoC and several Video Sharing services.
14 February, 2006